Duenas Sets a Positive Example while Mentoring her Niece
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- As we conclude a series of feature stories for National Girls & Women's in Sports Day, we focus today on Hope Duenas ('20), a track and field discus and hammer thrower from Covina, California, who competed for Willamette University during the 2017 through 2020 seasons. "Lead Her Forward" is the theme of this year's NGWSD celebration at Willamette.
As a Bearcat student-athlete, Duenas was nominated by Willamette for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. She also was nominated for the Honda Inspiration Award, which goes to a student-athlete who has overcome obstacles and succeeded.
Duenas placed 11th in the discus at the 2019 NCAA Championships and finished 20th at the 2018 championships. She won Northwest Conference discus titles in 2018 and 2019 and was third in 2017. Duenas was third in the hammer at the 2019 NWC Championships.
In the only meet of the 2020 season, Duenas had an NCAA Division III leading mark of 138' 3". She was All-West Region three times and ranks second all-time at Willamette in the discus with a throw of 148' 11. Overall, she was All-NWC five times. Duenas graduated from Willamette in 2020 with a major in Biology.
Duenas led by example as a Willamette student-athlete. In addition, she was able to mentor other throwers on the men's and women's track and field teams.
"It was actually a bit more difficult for me to interact with all of my track and field teammates because throwers generally compete and practice a distance away from all the other events," Duenas said. "It is for this reason that I tried to lead with my actions and tried to make every interaction I had with my other teammates (who were not throwers) meaningful, both during practice/competition and outside of our sport.
"I was able to be more hands-on and have more of an impact with my teammates who threw alongside me," Duenas continued. "Saige Swan ('20) and I were the most senior throwers in our group, and we had a lot of the younger throwers' eyes on us. I'd check in with them as often as I could. I offered little bits of advice in terms of technique, managing nerves before a meet, schoolwork, and classes, and even sometimes in their social life."
A key part of Duenas contributing to the "Lead Her Forward" movement is that she has helped her niece, Alyssa, develop as both an athlete and a young person.
"I have always been a part of Alyssa's life," Duenas asserted. "My role in her life became more prominent when I was around 16 years old. The story is very complicated, but I'd drive her and me back and forth every day to school. It was a 40-mile one-way trip, but we liked the school district we were in and I was a starter on the varsity basketball team -- which she would later become a member of. I'd get her up every day at 5 a.m. to get ready for the day, and we'd head out by 6 a.m. After school and after her own basketball practice, she'd come and sit on the sidelines at my basketball practice and even sometimes participate. We'd then head back home. In the evenings, I made sure she got her homework done, had her clothes ready for the next day, and went to bed at a decent hour to be ready for the next day's routine.
"I believe that our everyday interactions were a form of mentorship, and I think that still continues to this day," Duenas commented. "I mentored Alyssa by playing basketball and graduating high school and then later leaving for college. It was me graduating from Willamette and now navigating what my future looks like in the wake of this pandemic. I mentored her by setting a different example than what we were used to seeing."
In addition to being actively involved in the growth and development of her niece, Duenas was able to coach young athletes.
"I had the opportunity to work with and coach children, ages 6-13, at my high school basketball coach's summer camp for a few years," Duenas explained. "I was tasked with teaching the children basic fundamentals of basketball like dribbling or making a layup. This was an outlet for the children to get active and hopefully find a passion in sport.
"'Lead Her Forward," for me, means to guide others and open their eyes to their true potential," Duenas said. "It means to push and inspire others by doing and not just speaking. It's not telling someone how to do something, it's showing them how to do it and giving them the tools to do it themselves."
While at Willamette, Duenas was a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representative from the women's track and field team. She served on the SAAC Executive Board as the communications director. She also was a resident advisor in Kaneko Commons.
"Attending and competing in a sport at a college or university can be difficult and it's where a lot of self-discovery happens," said Duenas, a first-generation college graduate. "I think part of being a leader to the younger throwers and athletes on our team was being able to step back and let them discover things on their own. As an upperclassman, I tried to let the underclassmen know that I was on the sideline cheering them on in every aspect of their lives."
Duenas has been able to teach and contribute to other athletes because of the techniques and confidence she learned while working with coaches during her own career as a student-athlete.
"If nothing else, the one thing I've gained from the people who have coached me is confidence," Duenas mentioned. "The confidence to know that I am capable of way more than I think I am. The confidence to know right from wrong. The confidence to know that the devil is in the details. The confidence to know that I am defined by more than just my sport and accolades."
"All my coaches saw something in me that I didn't know I had yet, but none more so than Nick Masi and Soren Sorenson," Duenas added. Nick Masi was my high basketball coach who taught me the fundamentals of being an athlete and how to accomplish goals through hard work. I took those fundamentals with me to Willamette where I trained with Soren Sorenson, my college throwing coach.
"These two individuals were able to teach me about more than just my sport, they taught about life through my sport," Duenas continued. They gave me the tools to work hard and discipline myself to accomplish what I want to do in life.
Duenas is a great example of how efforts to "Lead Her Forward" can pay off in so many ways for student-athletes, during and away from competition, whether it's at the youth, high school, or collegiate level. The abilities, confidence, and willingness to teach others can then be forwarded to the next group of athletes, as the process continues.
"Being able to participate in a sport has empowered me to take what I've learned on the field, on the court, and in the ring, and apply it to my life," Duenas said. "Participating in sports has shown me how strong and resilient I am, both physically and mentally. It's empowered me to thrive on competition and challenge myself and those around me to be better."